The present invention relates to a connector and more particularly, to a connector engaging brake cables of a bicycle.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a bicycle has two brake arms 80 (only one is shown) each pivotally engaged to a corresponding front fork 90 and positioned between one of two sides of a wheel rim 92 of the bicycle. One of the brake arms 80 is connected to a first brake cable 651 as shown in FIG. 2 and the other brake arm is connected with a second brake cable 652, both the first and the second brake cables 651, 652 extend upwardly to connect to a connector 70 which is composed of a cover 74 and a base 75. The cover 74 has a first hole 72 and a second hole 73 defined therein and, a cut-out 71 is defined in a periphery of the cover 74 above and between the first and the second holes 72, 73, the base 75 has a recess 76 defined in a side thereof corresponding to the first hole 72 of the cover 74, a protrusion 77 extending from the side of the base 75 and corresponding to the second hole 73, and a first groove 78 defined transversely in the side between the protrusion 77 and the recess 76, a second groove 79 defined in the side and communicating with the first groove 78 and a cut-out 761 defined in a periphery thereof and communicating with the recess 76. When assembling the connector 70, the first brake cable 651 is received in the first groove 78 and extends to a brake lever 93 (see FIG. 3), the second brake cable 652 has a first end with a head 6521 formed thereto which is received in the recess 76 and the head 6521 extends through the first hole 72 of the cover 74 which is engaged to the base 75 by extending the protrusion 77 through the second hole 73 of the cover 74 and then deforming the protrusion 77 extending out of the second hole 73 to fixedly engage the cover 74 and the base 75, wherein a second end of the second brake cable 652 is pivotally engaged to the brake arm which is not shown in figures. The second brake cable 652 extends out from the connector 70 via the cut-out 761 and the first brake cable 651 is removed from the first groove 78 to the second groove 79 and connected to the brake arm 80 when the brake arm 80 connected thereto is set.
When a rider grasps the brake lever 93, the connector 70 is pulled upwardly by the first brake cable 651 and the two brake arms 80 are pivoted to stop the wheel rim 92 by a brake block 82 connected to each of the brake arms 80 contacting the wheel rim 92. However, under such an arrangement, the brake arm 80 connected to the first brake cable 651 tends to bear a larger force from the first brake cable 651 which is directly connected to the brake lever 93 than that of the brake arm connected to the second brake cable 652 such that a position of the brake arm 80 connected to the first brake arm 651 needs to be often adjusted by a technician in order to maintain its suitable position corresponding the brake arm connected to the second brake cable 652.
The present invention intends to provide a connector composed of a first part and a second part, the connector has a first brake cable and a second brake cable extending therefrom and a third brake cable securely engaged thereto by a bolt and a spring, the third brake cable connected to a brake lever such that when the brake lever is grasped it will provide an equally distributed force to the first and the second brake cables to mitigate and/or obviate the above-mentioned problems.